The present invention generally relates to the collection of cut material from a rongeur and, in particular, the collection of bone from a kerrison rongeur.
Rongeurs are surgical instruments for the cutting away of human tissue, and most commonly, cartilage and/or bone. “Kerrison” rongeurs are utilized in spinal surgery to remove bone and to thereby gain access to the spinal canal, and are well-known within conventional medical knowledge. Patent references disclosing and discussing kerrison rongeurs and their use in surgery include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,902,498; 5,026,375; 4,722,338; 4,777,940; 4,777,948 and U.S. patent application publication 2003/0216740.
With reference to FIG. 1a, an exemplary prior art kerrison rongeur is illustrated. The kerrison rongeur includes a first jaw member 10 that slides parallel to line A relative to, and on top of, a second jaw member 20. The first jaw member 10 included a distal cutting end having a cutting edge 15. The second jaw member 20 includes a stop 40 for placement beneath the tissue to be cut, which is generally bone or cartilage. A cutting area 30 is defined between the cutting edge 15 of the first jaw member 10 and the stop 40 of the second jaw member 20. The first jaw member 10 includes an open, interior cross-section defining an enclosed area within which the bone tissue is received when cut. Such an exemplary cross-section is illustrated in FIG. 1b. As illustrated, the cross-section of the first jaw member 10 has a generally inverted U shape.
In an exemplary use of a kerrison rongeur, a surgeon places the bone to be cut, such as the leading edge of the lamina of a vertebra, within the open portion of the distal end of the rongeur. The surgeon then squeezes the handle of the rongeur, which advances a moveable jaw member of the rongeur through and amputates a portion of bone. A surgeon may wait until the jaw member becomes full of bone, at which time the rongeur must be completely removed from the surgical site and passed to a scrub nurse or assisting technician for bone removal. The removal from the instrument of the cut portion of bone often requires that the scrub nurse or assisting technician use a small rigid hook, or toothed forceps, and often further requires that the physician temporarily relinquish the instrument entirely to make such bone removal possible. Once cleaned, the instrument is returned to the surgeon who, in returning it to the surgical site, must then reorient himself to the task at hand. This sequence must then be repeated over and over again. Moreover, in a typical spinal fusion, this sequence may require as many as 50 to 100 such repetitions.
Alternatively, a surgeon may present the distal end of the rongeur to a scrub nurse or assisting technician after each cut for removal of the bone, thereby avoiding bone build-up within the jaw member of the rongeur. This can be done without the surgeon relinquishing the rongeur and without the surgeon removing his or her attention and focus from the surgical site. Conventionally, the scrub nurse or assisting technician manually swipes the end of the kerrison rongeur with a sterile material for removing the cut bone. The scrub nurse or assisting technician may repeat the swiping of the cut bone multiple times before harvesting the swiped bone from the material used to perform the swiping. A gauze sponge may be used for swiping. Rather than swiping the bone from the rongeur, a gloved hand may be used by the scrub nurse or assisting technician to directly remove the bone from the rongeur. Thereafter, the harvested bone from the patient may be used in the surgical procedure on the patient, e.g., in autografts.
In view of the foregoing, it is believed that a need exists for a safe, expedient, and efficient way for the cut bone to be removed from the kerrison rongeur and harvested by a scrub nurse or assisting technician. This and other needs are believed to be addressed by one or more aspects and features of the invention.